Aj: Fall break! Woop! Woop! Haha, you suckers are still in school!

Anika: And this is why so many people want to kill you.

Fang was ready to pounce on Regan after seeing the obvious pain that Iggy was in. Sweat had begun to run down Iggy's already too pale face, and his eyes were flickering. Every now and then Iggy would grunt, but showed no other sign of pain. All of the flock were tough, and Iggy could take pain easy, but for how long? 'It's like a transfer of energy, the donor would only be exhausted normally. But in some extreme cases…' How often did people become an extreme case?

Iggy's legs were shaking, but the flock were beginning to see Ella stirring. Regan's eyes were scrunched up in concentration and sweat was on her forehead, but it was nothing compared to how Iggy looked. Ella's body jerked and her eyes flickered open for a millisecond, but Regan had not let go yet. Ella tried jerking her wrist away, making Regan realize that the transfer was complete. She released Iggy and Ella's wrists quickly, her eyes bloodshot. Iggy's legs crumpled underneath him, and it took Fang and Nudge holding Iggy to keep him upright.

Iggy's eyes were shut and his body was limp, making his weight nearly crush Nudge despite Fang trying to support his body weight. The two were able to lay Iggy down on the couch before they turned to see the results of Regan's power. Questions danced through their minds, some pessimistic and some optimistic. No matter what, there was no turning back now. Doctor Martinez was stroking Ella's hair motherly, with Ella's head on her lap. Ella's hair hung down from the couch in tendrils. Her skin contrasted with Doctor Martinez's despite having been the same ethnicity from how pale Ella had become.

Ella's eye flickered once again, and the flock braced themselves as Ella started to come to, for her to be the same paranoid vegetable that she had come as. The anticipation seemed to rip everyone in the room apart, except for Iggy who was still unconscious on the coffee brown leather couch. Her eyes opened and her chocolate brown eyes were visible. She sat up confused, but otherwise perfectly sane. Dr. M hugged her tightly and Ella hugged back just as tightly. Tears of joy starting to stream down her dirty face. Regan had a 'You're welcome' look on her face that was a mix between a smirk and a smile. Ella then turned to face the rest of the flock, while Jeb looked ready to pounce Ella for information.

Something seemed to spark in Ella's senses as she looked at the five members of the flock individually.

"Hi Ella. We missed you." Nudge said to break the silence, her voice quiet. Ella seemed to silently be replaying events and memories mentally. The flock patiently waited for her to finish, slightly afraid she would go back to her insane state, but she turned back to the flock, her eyes fully focused, but solemn.

"You don't know, do you?" She asked them, sounding like she came out of a horror movie.

"Know what?" Fang asked, speaking the question the entire flock, minus Iggy, was wondering.

"You don't know about Max," Ella answered, "You don't know she's alive, do you?"

And of course it was then that Iggy began to snore.


The rest of the flock thought that Fang was asleep, but he didn't think he would ever be able to fall asleep ever again. Not until he found Max that is. His chest ached from the guilt that she had been being tortured this entire time while the flock had been getting three square meals a day, cozy beds, and the satisfaction of no needles entering their bodies.

When he had thought Max had died, his insides were screaming out in pain. He couldn't even breathe by the force of the pain, just after he had gotten her back. It was like there was a sumo wrestler sitting on his chest and no amount of pain would be equal to what he was feeling. He had felt completely useless, why had he not been able to save her? They had gone through so much together, and then she had just been gone. There was no warning or anything. One moment she was there; and the next moment she had been dead.

Fang had constantly hid all of the pain and rage he had been feeling to be strong for the flock. Someone had to be strong for all of them. And unfortunately that meant it had to be him no matter how much he wanted to break down at the moment and act like a normal person would to the death of someone they loved. He had spent a full week perfecting his already impressive mask, and it didn't help that Iggy had become even nosier when he had gotten his sight back. If that was even possible.

But she truly was invincible, she had survived the explosion. Fang didn't know how it was possible that Max was alive, but he didn't care as long as she was. The next day the flock would begin planning the rescue operation, and once they got Max back he would permanently weld her to his side so she couldn't charge off and get herself killed again. As happy as Fang was that Max was alive, he was scared for her at the same time. Even though he would never admit it.

What if she was as broken as Ella from being tortured by Grey. They had barely survived one day at Grey's torture house, how was she dealing with being there for over a month. Fang still had an uneasy feeling about Regan, even though the rest of the flock were beginning to warm up to her after she helped Ella. He knew that there was something way off about her, but she was useful. Especially if Max ended up like Ella had when she had come. Or worse, one of Grey's brainwashed zombies who put Grey above their own lives.

He couldn't stand to see if Max truly was like that. She wasn't Max if she was broken. Maximum Ride is strong, courageous, headstrong, stubborn, and a leader. If she was a zombie, then she may as well be her clone until he got her back. And if anything like that did happen, he would get her back.

2:34 am. How was Fang supposed to be able to get to sleep when he knew that Max was being tortured probably at the very second. Ella had told them everything she knew, and judging by where she was found, the base that Max was being held at was Death Valley. It was like Deja Vu from all of their happy times there. From when they were all being used like lab rats, to when Angel was kidnapped, to when they were captured again and saw Jeb with them, etc. It was a wonder that they didn't send their Christmas cards from there. Fang sat up in his black bed to stare at his grey walls. I don't know why everybody thinks I'm emo, Fang thought while looking at his cheery color selection. Fang hopped off of the bed and put some jeans on. He knew exactly where he needed to go.

Just in case he got back later than he planned, Fang quickly scrawled a note onto a piece of blank paper lying around with a dull pencil. Then he happily jumped out of his window. He unfurled his wings ten feet above the ground, and Max wasn't joking when she had said it hurt. His fifteen feet wingspan of raven black feathers made him give a half smile at the familiar sight. If you ask any mutant bird kid, flying is the best thing in the world. People everywhere try to find ways to imitate it, but they'll never be able to.

The light breeze ruffled his black hair slightly, but not enough to make his eyes burn from the force of the wind. The adrenaline that had been kept inside of him built until he felt like he was going to burst from the pure exhilaration. He was flying as fast as he could, and the cool of the March night raised Goosebumps on his arms. Especially with him just wearing a baggy faded black t-shirt that had a few small holes near the hemline.

The world always seemed so much smaller and simpler when he was able to fly. And yet, this time the effects of flying seemed to do the exact opposite for him. The world seemed so much more big and so much more complicated that it made Fang's brain hurt. What was Grey's plan by pretending that Max and Ella were dead? Not that Fang was complaining in the least bit about them being alive, but none of their villains would do something as big as keeping them alive, especially Max, without some kind of plan. And the longer they didn't know the plan, the harder it would be to defeat Grey.

Fang finally saw his destination ahead and sped towards it. The lake glistened in the moonlight below him, but he wasn't interested in the lake. He was interested in the cave that had a special value for every one of the flock. They all knew it as the hawks cave. It was where they had reunited with each other to save Angel, learned how to fly better, and where Fang had told Max to meet him in twenty years, in what actually felt like twenty years ago.

Tomorrow was the day that they would plan to get Max out and to prepare for the rescue mission. But for now, Fang watched the hawks soaring gracefully without a worry in the world. Fang envied them, he had way too much to worry about for a fifteen year old. And he couldn't help but feel that something would go wrong; very wrong.

Aj: Foreshadowing; always a bad sign in my stories. Mwahahaha!

Anika: What did I tell you about your evil torture addiction?

Questions:

1) What is your favorite show?

2) What is your favorite movie genre?

Aj: I finished the Son of Neptune a few days ago and the plot line and foreshadowing was great. And Hazel was a lot better of a female character then some others, cough Annabeth/Piper cough, but Frank seemed to be bordering on too special and the romances seemed to easy and predictable. But other than that, it was a lot better than The Lost Hero.-Aj.